


dark, cool, deep

by helwolves



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Dark Fairy Tale Elements, Interspecies Romance, M/M, Minor Character Death, SASO 2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-24
Updated: 2017-08-24
Packaged: 2018-12-19 13:30:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11898756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helwolves/pseuds/helwolves
Summary: Hajime should have been more careful. But never had he met anyone else quite like the boy in the pond that led out to the sea.





	dark, cool, deep

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thimble](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thimble/gifts).



> [SASO BR7 fill for DW user wino (again, oops)](http://sportsanime.dreamwidth.org/25713.html?thread=15930737#cmt15930737), based on the end of [this comic](http://emcarroll.com/comics/prince/andthesea.html), which is excellent and you should read it. Someday I'll finish a fic where Oikawa is not some kind of monster... maybe.

Hajime should have been more careful. But never had he met anyone else quite like the boy in the pond that led out to the sea.

People around the castle were always talking about the ways that Hajime was strong—the cut of his arms, the swing of his broadsword, the fierce loyalty in his heart. He learned before long, though, that he was very weak in some ways, too: weak to broad shoulders and pale skin, warm brown eyes framed by absurdly long lashes, a wit sharper than Hajime’s best dagger, a temperament just slightly more predictable than the summer storms off the nearby coast.

Hajime was strong, but he was also young, and hopelessly, hazardously in love.

///

The sea-green scales covering Tooru’s winding tail glinted like gemstones in the late-afternoon sun. That day, the air was too hot, but the trees provided shade and the water in the pond felt perfect. Hajime kicked his dangling feet to send a splash in a glittering arc through the haze.

Tooru laughed, and Hajime’s heart did a stupid, funny thing inside his chest.

“Hajime,” Tooru said quietly, his lips just above the water’s surface. “Won’t you come swim with me today?”

“You know I never learned to swim,” Hajime replied, avoiding Tooru’s searching gaze. “I’d sink like a rock.”

Tooru laughed some more. Coils moved below the ripples, in the shadows of lilypads, mesmerizing and unreachable.

Except—

“It’s not that deep!” Tooru urged. “And there’s _me_. I wouldn’t let anything bad happen to my Iwa-chan.”

Hajime blinked against the brightness of the sun, and the raw, hopeful beauty of Tooru’s perfect smile.

“I can’t...”

Then Tooru glided closer to the little dock, and his hand closed around Hajime’s bare ankle.

“But you _want_ to.”

His palm was cool, cooler than the water, and his nails sharp. Hajime shivered. Tooru tugged, and hummed, and Hajime scowled at how difficult it was proving to harden his heart against this.

“Please?” Tooru smiled again, with just the tip of his tongue peeking out.

Hajime grunted as he stripped off his shirt and tossed it atop the nearby pile of his boots and light armor and weaponry in the grass. “Do you promise?” he asked, scooting to the edge of the dock, eyeing the place where the clear green water began its shift into darkness of an unknown depth.

“I promise!” Tooru sang. “Iwa-chan will be safe with me.” He drifted backwards as Hajime let himself slip into the pool, but darted close in time to keep Hajime’s head from dipping below the surface. His strong arms wound around Hajime’s chest, and his tail, smooth and soft, slid against Hajime’s legs.

It was a mistake, in the end. But all Hajime knew then was that Tooru’s scales were beautiful, and somewhat warmer than his hands, and his mouth was warmest of all, and he kept his promise.

///

The days were growing shorter again, and it became harder for Hajime to slip away to the pond on the other side of the woods.

Tooru noticed, of course, and was unhappy. Tooru noticed most things.

“But Iwa-chan, can’t you stay? Just this once?”

His long tail thrashed in the shallows, spotting Hajime’s warm leather boots dark where he sat cross-legged on the dock.

“I have responsibilities, Tooru. We’re not children anymore.”

Hajime wasn’t sure that was entirely accurate. He didn’t know whether Tooru was really of an age with him, or just looked it. He didn’t even know what Tooru really was. It had never mattered.

Tooru floated on the surface of the pond, pouting. Hajime shifted to lie on his stomach on the well-worn planks and reached down, tracing his fingertips along delicate fins and glossy scales as they drifted past.

“Silly Iwa-chan,” Tooru said, after a while. He twisted suddenly in the water, pulling Hajime’s hand to his lips and pressing a hard kiss to the back of it. “What could be more important than this? What do you _do_ back in that awful castle?”

“Train, mostly.”

“That sounds boring. Wouldn’t you rather be here? With me?”

“It isn’t,” Hajime said.

_But still, yes, I would,_ he did not say.

///

The pond had frozen over in places. While Hajime had once wondered if this meant Tooru wouldn’t be there when he visited, he’d long since noticed that the cold didn’t seem to affect him, somehow.

“Listen, I have to—I came to say goodbye.”

There was frost shimmering in Tooru’s hair. His eyes were barely breaking the dark surface, and just looking at him made Hajime feel colder despite his own layers of leather and fur.

“What,” Tooru said, from below, distorted by the water.

Hajime sighed. “I’m a sworn knight now, and the prince is coming of age, so I’ll be traveling with him for a while soon.”

“The prince,” Tooru echoed.

“Not forever, but—” Hajime ran a gloved hand back through the mess of his hair. “Shit. I just didn’t want you to think...”

Tooru tilted his head wordlessly. His eyes were slitted, the grey sky and gathered shadows making them look liquid black, nothing like the golden brown Hajime sometimes saw dancing in his dreams.

“So, anyway,” Hajime said, voice catching roughly.

He scrubbed at his eyes with the heels of both palms. Why the hell did Tooru have to make this harder than it already was? Hajime had hoped—well, he wasn’t sure what exactly he’d hoped, but this silence as frosty as the air wasn’t part of the farewell he’d have chosen.

“Tooru, I—” he tried again.

But the water at his feet was already dark and empty, only the widening ripples on its surface assuring him that Tooru had ever been there at all.

///

“Tooru, _please_ , are you—”

Hajime didn’t have time to pretend he was anything but desperate as he rushed through the dark woods and dropped to his knees on the familiar little dock. He peered over the edge into the depths, and the relief that flooded through him when he saw the moonlight glinting off Tooru’s blue-green scales was almost too much.

When Tooru breached the surface, he was beaming—ethereal and beautiful and setting Hajime’s pounding heart to beat even faster.

“Iwa-chan!” he sang, reaching up to grip the planks and pull himself higher. “Finally.” Water streamed from his hair and down his body, sending the mist that hovered over the pond’s surface swirling wildly.

Hajime dragged him closer before he could slip back down into the pool. Tooru sighed and clutched at Hajime’s arms, nails digging in sharply even through his overcoat. Tooru’s skin was steamy and warm where Hajime ran his hands over it, his mouth dizzyingly hot when Hajime kissed him, urgent and deep.

Tooru whined and tried to writhe closer, but finally Hajime ducked away with a hiss. When he wiped his mouth with the back of one hand, he saw a streak of blood—nothing new when Tooru got overexcited, but that night it made Hajime’s stomach lurch.

“Iwa—”

“Wait, I have to—Tooru, _stop_. Listen. Something—something happened. The prince, he—Tobio is _dead_.” Hajime paused to take a steadying breath; he could barely spit out the words. “I wasn’t—it wasn’t my watch, but it—shit, it was _my_ dagger. How was it my...”

He tucked his face in against Tooru’s neck, breathed deep, tasted salt but didn’t know whether it was Tooru’s or his own.

“Hajime...” Tooru’s voice was soft, hushing, soothing in a way that ran in warm rivulets over all the places that Hajime felt were cracking open. His long tail still hung off the dock and splashed in the water, but the bulk of him was perched on Hajime’s lap. His arms tightened around Hajime’s shoulders. “Everything will be _fine_ now, you know.”

Hajime jerked back with a snarl; Tooru was _smiling_. “How—I am royally _fucked_ now, don’t you understand? This is goodbye this time, for real. I have to—I can’t stay, I can’t come back here after—”

Tooru let out a low, impatient sound. “You can do whatever you want now, can’t you? Go wherever you want. Be with... whoever you want...” He pressed their foreheads together and blinked his pretty eyes. “No more _prince_ to risk your life for, no traveling far, far away... you see?” he said sweetly, as he stroked Hajime’s nape, his collarbones.

“Don’t...”

Tooru arched away, gripping Hajime’s shoulders hard to keep his balance. “Don’t _what_?”

“Are you just playing stupid now?” Hajime’s voice was shaking again. “How could we ever... I have to _leave_ here, and you’re—you—”

There was something strange about Tooru’s smile in that light, a silver crescent showing too many sharp teeth. “There are ways,” he said, “and it’s still the full moon, the best time for temporary transformations...” He slid two fingers under Hajime’s chin and tipped his head up. “Didn’t I promise to keep you safe?”

**Author's Note:**

> [twitter](https://twitter.com/helwolves/status/900860207751888896) ★ [tumblr](https://helwolves.tumblr.com/)


End file.
